'They May Not Know What's Good For Them'

'They May Not Know What's Good For Them'

By Mark Finkelstein (Bio | Archive)
July 31, 2009 - 07:37 ET

The poor, benighted little people. They just don't understand what a wonderful hopey-changey world Pres. Obama is offering them . . .

Andrea Mitchell has suggested that the problem Pres. Obama is facing in selling his health care plan to Americans who already have coverage is that people "may not know what's good for them." [H/t reader Restless 1]

Mitchell made her condescending comment on today's Morning Joe.

ANDREA MITCHELL: You've got 47% of the people in our NBC/Wall Street Journal opinion poll who have health insurance who don't like what the president is doing. The problem he's got -- 47% of the people who've got coverage don't want change. They don't like what they're hearing. Now, they may not know what's good for them, but the problem is that he always knew he was going to have to persuade people with insurance, that's the largest number, not the people without insurance, for expanded coverage. So they've got a real problem.

Condescension seems to be in the MSNBC air. Yesterday, we noted Chris Matthews, surprised that Sgt. James Crowley could handle a press conference, calling him "our Susan Boyle." Now this.

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And yet, Annndrea, the

July 31, 2009 - 07:41 ET by motherbelt

And yet, Annndrea, the First One knows what's good for my family?

Shut up, Andrea. Just. shut. up.

She and the rest of the

July 31, 2009 - 07:47 ET by kg

She and the rest of the bunch of liberal reporter elites think they are intelligent and "enlightened" while the rest of the country is ignorant and backwards.

"DumbAssity of Dope"

No worries

July 31, 2009 - 10:27 ET by cvgbuckeye

Don't worry Andrea. The re-education camps will take care of that problem.

Blonde Bimbo Mitchell.

July 31, 2009 - 11:44 ET by blazermaniac

Do you know what isn't good for people? Watching Mitchell & her pathetic network!

redifining

July 31, 2009 - 07:46 ET by 10ksnooker

journalism ... It's what NBC does best. Before long their last two viewers will die from lack of healthcare, then what.

I think you misspelled the long word.

July 31, 2009 - 08:23 ET by Willis_Leon_Johnson

It's not "journalism"

It's much closer to "URINALISM"

(as an aside, mathews looks and acts like the receptacle)

http://gjresult.com

The One

July 31, 2009 - 07:47 ET by Forbus

Please, Mr. President, help us. We need to be "educated." Let this be a teachable moment....

Condescension seems to be

July 31, 2009 - 07:50 ET by BKeyser

Condescension seems to be in the MSNBC air.

Condescension is the lifeblood of Liberal elitists. They all believe that it is they who know what's best for the "stupid(ly)" (to quote both Bill Maher and Barry Obama) masses. What's "good for them" according to Libs, is a thought-controlled, mind-numbingly organized and heavily-regulated electorate. Picture this old Pink Floyd video...

It must be nice to be a multi-millionaire....

July 31, 2009 - 07:52 ET by supercon

and married to the former fed chief and getting millions every year just to talk. Andrea is one of those people, who just like Congress and the President will never have to use the public option that they want to force everyone else into. I'd bet that she and Alan have a household staff that would rival a small company.

" if Republicans are able to stop Barack Obama on health care, 'it will be his Waterloo, it will break him...." -Sen. Jim DeMint

Mark, thanks for posting. I

July 31, 2009 - 07:57 ET by Glenn

Mark, thanks for posting. I was half listening to this snob this morning and I thought that is what she said.

Please...oh please Obama....save the STUPID people from themselves.

Andrea Mitchell......clown at large.

Mitchell herself has no need for healthcare

July 31, 2009 - 08:02 ET by SickofLibs

Mummies are immortal, as we all know...they just need to get a fresh application of unguents every 500 years or so. Her and her husband Imhotep VIII are good through 2250.

Word jumble

July 31, 2009 - 08:11 ET by txco

"Health for Clunkers"?

I guess that Hope and Change message needs to be recalibrate for those who stupidly voted for it.

As the "public option" why

July 31, 2009 - 08:13 ET by motherbelt

As the "public option" why not just allow people without health insurance to buy into Medicaid?

Because that would leave private insurers alone.

Because what they really want is not health insurance for everyone, but control over health care.

Hey....when Madam

July 31, 2009 - 08:14 ET by oldArmy

Hey....when Madam speaks......smart people listen.....

ANDREA MITCHELL:

July 31, 2009 - 08:54 ET by MidAmerica

ANDREA MITCHELL: ...........but the problem is that he always knew he was going to have to persuade people with insurance,........

yeah, the people who are going to have less healthcare under obama's plan are not too happy with it.

All these people promoting obama's plan are people who do not have to rely soley on it because they have the money to get whatever care they want.

Obamacare will truly create John Edwards 'Two America's.

The ultimate liberal v. conservative struggle

July 31, 2009 - 08:29 ET by KC Mulville

You walk down the street during the Holidays, and you see a purple Christmas tree in your neighbor's house. What do you do?

Call the Christmas fashion police, have the house closed, because the owner doesn't know enough for his own good.
Nothing. It's his house.

Liberals, who always think they know better, always feel inclined to 1. Like the healthcare system, they know better, and they want to impose their notion of "better" on everyone else. Conservatives choose 2. This is a free country, and they can whatever they want in their own house.

But wait! This story comes immediately following the story on "polyamory," where men and women ignore the bonds of marriage. Shouldn't people do whatever they want? A critic might argue that this is the flip side of the same coin.

If you're all in favor of freedom, then you can't argue about the polyamorists.
But if you want to shut down the polyamorists, then why can't the government impose a healthcare system?

Sounds hypocritical, doesn't it? But this is where distinctions get lost, in the "sounding." (This is the place where libertarians are different from conservatives.) In the first place, sexual promiscuity is cultural, not legal or political. You can be in favor of traditional values without wanting to use government to impose them. Conservatives aren't asking government to enforce sexual behavior in the polyamorist case.

Second, in both cases, liberals are doing the imposing. In the polyamorist case, the liberal media is imposing their openness on us, and also their healthcare system.

Your position breaks down.

July 31, 2009 - 08:53 ET by Willis_Leon_Johnson

"If you're all in favor of freedom, then you can't argue about the polyamorists."

These people are acting indepently of government interference. Choice #2, nothing, it's their house.

http://gjresult.com

As was noted Willis, a lot

July 31, 2009 - 08:57 ET by Radical1979

As was noted Willis, a lot of us don't care about polyamorists except when children are involved. If a guy can hear his girlfriend having sex with someone else, so can the kids.

True, however...

July 31, 2009 - 09:02 ET by Willis_Leon_Johnson

THAT is an entirely different issue than currently under discussion isn't it?

Kids hear their parents having sex on a regular basis, always have, and always will.

Would you care to be the one to require total soundproofing of bedrooms in every domicile in America?

Or kitchens, bathrooms, diningrooms, etc, wherever adults choose to have sex?

http://gjresult.com

Wow you grew up in a

July 31, 2009 - 09:11 ET by Radical1979

Wow you grew up in a different house than I did, or that I live in now.

Also, how do you think the breakups between these boyfriend and girlfriend relationships affect the kids? I would assume they could be traumatic since the lives of these people seem so intertwined.

ok, tell us....

July 31, 2009 - 09:24 ET by Willis_Leon_Johnson

No child has ever heard, or walked in on, their parents having sex?

http://gjresult.com

What breaks down?

July 31, 2009 - 09:16 ET by KC Mulville

Explaining the difference is what my last two paragraphs were about. What's the rebuttal of those? I don't follow you.

Richard and Liz, redux

July 31, 2009 - 08:30 ET by Pilgrim1949

Conjurs up visions of His One-ness and the First Wonder Woman, waltzing around the Oval Office, singing the Dummiecrap version of, "What do the simple folk do?"

...between snacks of arugala and kobe from the nearby butler-held silver platter, washed down with sips of the finest champagne (no common brewskis for these sophisticated folk!)

In their case, "sophisticated" = "capable of the most tortured and convoluted sophistries to beguile the 'simple folk' as often as possible"

The Dems wanted Camelot Redux, they got it alright, and everyone else is paying for it!

If it get's revoltin' enough, will it spark a revolt? One can only hope --- for change! :)

"Ye canne change the laws of physics....." but some politicians believe that with the right legislation you can pretend they don't really apply to your own pet projects...

Andrea Mitchell

July 31, 2009 - 08:32 ET by KellyR

What a stupid beyotch.

Condescension is not just

July 31, 2009 - 08:41 ET by mattm

Condescension is not just an MSNBC thing or a media thing - it's foundational to liberalism, or statism.

They know better than the unwashed masses, so that gives them the "divine right" of kings to rule over us.

Contrast this attitude with Sarah Palin who believes the "wisdom of the people" is what will lead to a happy, free and prosperous future.

Libs are tyrants who use bribery rather than guns to get their power and they justify it by their imagined superiority.

Don't know?

July 31, 2009 - 08:43 ET by CO2Maker

Here's the money quote: "The problem is that he [President Obama] always knew he was going to have to persuade people with insurance, that's the largest number, not the people without insurance, for expanded coverage."

As the old joke goes, the politician who promises to rob Peter to pay Paul will always have the support of Paul.

Besides, what do you have to explain to the uninsured? What part of free don't they get? Not counting, of course, the part about deficit. Oh yeah, and the part about nanny gummint. And the part about rationing care, especially for the old folks.

"What part of free don't they get?"

July 31, 2009 - 08:54 ET by SickofLibs

It's the size/amount of the "free" we have to convince them of.

Like when a bum asks you for a buck, you start digging for it, and then he says "Can you do a five?"

That's all?

July 31, 2009 - 09:04 ET by CO2Maker

That actually happened to me many years ago. I panhandler hit me up, I dug into my pocket for all of 50 cents or so, and said, "Well, I just have 50 cents." He say, "Is that all?" That ticked me off. I said, "Screw you" (or words to that effect), closed my hand with the coins, and walked off listening to him curse me.

I pulled out my money clip

July 31, 2009 - 09:14 ET by Willis_Leon_Johnson

And showed him 5 twenties, nothing larger, nothing smaller.

"Sorry my friend, but I worked for these."

As I walked away I had a somewhat strong urge to turn around and ask him if his mommy taught him those words.

http://gjresult.com

“they may not know what's good for them”

July 31, 2009 - 09:07 ET by needle

Right, Andrea. How would we know what is good for us? That is why we need the elitists who make up the State Run Media that silence the silenced majority to tell us.

But just for the heck of it, Andrea, here is what some of the ignorant silent majority think.

- Relying upon the State Run Media for your information is like relying upon an embezzler to manage your portfolio.

Your hubs

July 31, 2009 - 09:43 ET by StarAZ

Last time I looked, your husband was on the old side--is he all set for his conference on when he plans to die? You know--for his own good and all?

Silver lining of Bam's ascendancy...

July 31, 2009 - 09:13 ET by wnaegele

...the media busted the closet door in their rush to come out.

Moral Superiority

July 31, 2009 - 09:24 ET by River City

The Northeast elites have had their day in the sun and I am done with them. Who elected Andrea Mitchell to her position of morally superior judge of America? Democrats and Republicans in the Northeast corridor feel the rest of are too stupid to function day-to-day. If the rest of us don't show all of them the door they will keep hammering this message to the American people until we suffer from a national inferiority complex. Fight back.

Their fear of Southern politicians lets us see a little bit inside the secret club. We must do whatever we have to do to show them that they are not our moral betters. The bourgeois in this country better wake up. They should read about the French Revolution.

"Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality--the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind." Ayn Rand

O'Reilly had some interesting thoughts last night

July 31, 2009 - 09:46 ET by Iowa Boy

The notion that liberals think we're dolts is pretty pervasive. So he pointed out how Gov. Sarah Palin, who every liberal on the planet thinks is a moron, leaves office with a 54% approval rating while Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachuesetts, a Harvard educated laywer who most liberals lionize, is currently running his state into the ground with an approval rating of less than 35%.

Liberalism is based entirely on emotion. So it's not a hard leap to see how people who "feel" believe people who disagree are idiots. Somebody wiser than me once said, "Ed, feelings are NOT facts."

"Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain." Official Motto of the State of Iowa

I'll let her make

July 31, 2009 - 09:52 ET by Willis_Leon_Johnson

I'll let her make decisions affecting my future, RIGHT AFTER I get to make decisions regarding her future.

http://gjresult.com

What an arrogant twit-dumber than a brick wall

July 31, 2009 - 09:53 ET by political maven

Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomiac? He lays in bed all night contemplating the existence of Dog.

Andrea like President Obama

July 31, 2009 - 10:18 ET by dovewood

Andrea like President Obama shows how out of touch they are with regular people. We are not stupid and they need to stop acting like we are.

You know Andrea,

July 31, 2009 - 10:23 ET by Tom in NC

I don't need some empty headed, obama kool-aid drinking bimbo such as yourself making decisions about what is best for me, stick to what you know, like kissing obama's ass and stay the hell out of mine and every other American's business!

Mitchell you are a liberal

July 31, 2009 - 10:27 ET by jessieH

Mitchell you are a liberal without a clue. The people don't need a woman like you talking for them. Especially one that works for PMSNBC. We know what's bad for us. That's why PMSNBC's ratings are in the toilet. And they will stay in the toilet as long as people like you work for them.

Even getting past the

July 31, 2009 - 10:28 ET by fitzfong

Even getting past the obvious condescension, even allowing the wild assumption that we "don't know what's good for" us, is the botched chemistry experiment/trophy wife to a doddering old incompetent really the one to tell us what is good for us?

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." -George Best

The Pelosi Tax

July 31, 2009 - 11:57 ET by slickwillie2001

Read here how Obamacare will crush small business:

The Pelosi Tax: http://bluecrabboulevard.com

"To put this in actual dollars, a worker earning, say, $70,000 a year could lose some $5,600 in take home pay to cover the costs of ObamaCare. And, by the way, this is in addition to the 2.5% tax that the individual worker would have to pay on gross income, if he doesn’t buy the high-priced health insurance that the government will mandate. In sum, that’s a near 10-percentage point tax on wages and salaries on top of the 15% that already hits workers to finance Medicare and Social Security."

Important note -you will be fined the 2.5% not simply if you don't have any health insurance, but if your insurance doesn't meet the federal guidelines. This is another subtle way that the government will eliminate private insurance.

Andrea will regret

July 31, 2009 - 14:15 ET by RR GOP

Andrea will regret supporting Obamacare when she has to wait five months for a doctor to pull her head out of her a$$.

One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).

The Mumbling Mummy of MSNBC Murders the English Language

July 31, 2009 - 14:17 ET by Utherpend

ANDREA MITCHELL: You've got (have) 47% of the people in our NBC/Wall Street Journal opinion poll who have health insurance who don't like what the president is doing. The problem he's got (he has) -- 47% of the people who've got coverage don't want change. They don't like what they're hearing.

Butchering the English language one broadcast at a time.

"For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security."

You must forgive the Mummy

July 31, 2009 - 14:29 ET by SickofLibs

English is her second language... and teleprompters do not handle hieroglyphics very well.

andrea mitchell

July 31, 2009 - 14:44 ET by east tennessee john

Hey Andrea, if ratings have any validity whatsoever, apparently we do know what's good for us and it ain't you.

MSNBC

July 31, 2009 - 14:59 ET by CANCON1

I just turn it on , Danny Eat my Lunch was in subbing for the sh**tster, and while it may seem impossible this clown has no edit button at all. At least with Mr. Smirk he confines it to mostly facial expressions, this clown is unbelievable and it is just unreal how evil these people are. He is literally waiting to jump in with some garbage at any moment. American TV is in the toilet. I am going back to Canadian Parlaiment on C-span.